Heinz W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Heinz W., who was born in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany in 1920, the second of three sons. He recounts his father's World War I service in the Russian army and capture in Germany as a prisoner of war (he remained there and established a successful tailoring business); difficulties finding a quorum for his bar mitzvah due to laws against Jews gathering together; his father's trip to Palestine in 1934, then sending his older brother to school there; antisemitic harassment; expulsion from school and an electrician's apprenticeship due to anti-Jewish laws; reluctantly joining his father's business; Nazis vandalizing their home and beating his parents on Kristallnacht; his arrest for defending them; local imprisonment, then transfer to Sachsenhausen with his father; frequent beatings, slave labor, and pointless exercises; his father sharing extra food with him; Martin NiemoĚller obtaining medication for Jewish prisoners; release in 1939 based on his pledge to leave Germany; assistance returning home from his father's customer in Berlin; emigration to Palestine with his parents via Vienna and Dubrovnik (his younger brother emigrated to Palestine with a children's group); marriage; and the births of three children. Mr. W. discusses receiving compensation for his family's home and for injuries received in Sachsenhausen, which he visited with his daughter. He shows photographs.
Extent and Medium
4 videocassettes
Conditions Governing Access
This testimony is open with permission.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- W., Heinz, -- 1920-
- NiemoĚller, Martin, -- 1892-1984.
Corporate Bodies
- Sachsenhausen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Fathers and sons.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Jewish refugees.
- Child survivors.
- Bar mitzvah.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Prisoners -- Germany -- Frankfurt an der Oder.
- Forced labor.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
Places
- Palestine -- Emigration and immigration.
- Dubrovnik (Croatia)
- Frankfurt an der Oder (Germany)
- Germany.
- Vienna (Austria)
- Berlin (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat